Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Rehearsal RR was last Sunday. Seth Hosmer(CMG/Alpine Mortgage) notched his belt yet again, taking the win after besting Doug Ollerenshaw(HealthNet/Maxxis) in a two up sprint that was all arms and legs. I wish someone had a video of the two lankiest guys out there winding it up at 200m. If Trebon and Wicks come back, we could have an all tall guy sprint off. It would be the bike equivalent of midget wrestling. Did somebody say pay-per-view???

The State RR course is a good tactical course. The climbs could break it up, but they both have pretty fast descents that make it hard to get a gap. The Briggs Hill section is one of the more scenic sections you'll see in OBRA racing.

Doug then took PIR tonight. So, apparently, his sprinting legs just needed a warm-up.

Tabor is Wednesday and could be a stacked field. A few pro type guys are kicking around town, Tour de Nez in Reno is the only NRC action this weekend.

Tour contenders are warming it up at the Duphiné Liberé (did I get the accents in the right places?) I'll start to get a list together of places (coffee shops, bike shops, bars etc.) that show Le Tour, seeing how it's the only bike race that really gets any live coverage over here, I try and make it out to watch a few days. Send me your fave place to watch, hopefully I can get together enough places that nobody has to go too far before they've had their coffee.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Sorry for the lateness, I've been busy or tired or riding. Something like that.

Sounds like there will be some new faces in the 1/2 field as Jacob Rathe, Carson Miller and Ian Boswell all got the upgrade after Hood. We could use some fresh legs.

Seth Hosmer(CMG/Alpine Mortgage) won Tabor. Eric Tonkin(Kona) blew it all up. The weather was pretty blah and not many showed to watch.

Big track race this weekend. If you're into that.

Rehearsal RR in Eugene. Challenging course. Expect to see some fast guys and maybe some track guys.

The sprinter types who do it for money will be racing Philly on Sunday(?).

Check out next year's Madone. The Bike Gallery guys gotta be STOKED!!! I thought those Lance frames were lookin' a little dated. CyclingNews.com has all the details. Best idea ever: no BB cups. You just pop the bearings in!

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Mt. Hood has come and gone. Not a ton of local news out of the race that was once the end-all-be-all of NW amateur racing. It turned into a logjam of the big boys as Navigators, HealthNet/Maxxis, ToyotaU, and Priority Health/Bissell dominated the GC. The new TT made it Nathan O'Neill's race to lose, and the square-jawed Aussie doesn't let many slip away.

Aaron Tuckerman(Rubicon) is starting to make these top-10 finishes at NRC races look easy. He was 8th on the week.

So I was obviously wrong about DiLuca. He kept the power going right through Saturday's TT. Cunego(Lampre) and Simoni(Saunier Duval) couldn't put the time in during the drag race up Zoncolan, though Simoni netted another big Giro stage.

The big surprise of the Giro was Andy Schleck's(Brother of Frank[Both CSC]) 2nd on GC. Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) absolutely dominated the moutains taking the Santuario Nostra Signora Della Guardia stage and a maglia verde for himself while giving away stage wins to whatever teammate happened to be around. Iban Mayo(Sunier Duval) also rose from the dead for a stage win, though was nowhere to be seen in thw mountains.

Overall, the race looked a bit different than recent grand tours. Riders who went on monstrous attacks generally faltered in the next couple of stages. The winners of the flat TT were not miraculous in the mountains. There was no Basso/Armstrong dominating every opportunity to gain time. The Santuario stage won by Piepoli absolutely devastated every rider. The Tre Cime de Lavaredo stage, which Piepoli gave to Ricco, had the lead riders suffering so bad it was hard to watch. DiLuca jumped to an early lead and managed to hold it. It was a great three weeks of racing.

Oh yeah, Pettachi's(Milram) sledgehammer-style sprinting is now back in full effect.

Aaron Olson(T-Mobile) made it to Milan with a depleted T-Mobile squad.

Here's some pictures of Damiano Cunego(Lampre) to wrap up my 2007 Giro coverage:Pics from CyclingNews.com.

Jacob Erker(Symmetrics) took the opener at Tabor. He came out of a break of eight followed by Molly Cameron(Veloshop) and Shannon Skerritt(Bike Gallery)

John Leonard(Casa Bruno) notched his belt at PIR for the second week in a row and made the break at Tabor.